Stuff I like by Benita
I'm awesome.
-
“Bossypants”
Yes, everyone knows Tina Fey is funny and she’s a clever writer, so, of course, her book is laugh-out-loud funny and clever. Everyone and their mother is reading and/or reviewing this book so I won’t write too much about it. It’s chock full of zingers, sarcasm and hilariously witty commentary on Tina Fey’s life. I knew I would like this book, but what I didn’t know is that my favorite parts wouldn’t be the one-liners. What I loved most was the inside info on how SNL operates, what goes on behind the scenes of a photo shoot and the inner workings of “30 Rock.” It was all written with her trademark witty remarks and humor, but with plenty of candid anecdotes to make it interesting. This was a crazy fast read (open the book and you’ll realize what I mean, the text is giant).
Book No. 8 of my 50 books in 2011 goal.
-
“Little Bee” by Chris Cleave
“Little Bee: ‘I do not think you are wrong for living the life you were born in. A dog must be a dog and a wolf must be a wolf, that is the proverb in my country.’
‘That’s beautiful,’ said Sarah.
‘Actually that is not the proverb in my country.’
‘No?’
‘No! Why would we have a proverb with wolves in it? We have two hundred proverbs about monkeys, three hundred about cassava. We talk about what we know. But I have noticed, in your country, I can say anything so long as I say that is the proverb in my country. Then people will nod their heads and look very serious.’”
We’re reading this in my book club this month. I didn’t know anything about it before I started reading it and I’m glad I didn’t. “Little Bee” is extremely well-written and the story is compelling, but the characters just didn’t resonate with me. I’m pretty sure the reader is supposed to fall in love with Little Bee and/or empathize with Sarah, the two voices in the book, but I didn’t care much for either. It’s about a Nigerian girl (Little Bee) and her struggles trying to identify with and belong somewhere as she tries to make in the UK (as an illegal) and get away from the evil she experienced in her country. I really loved the writing style and the two voices throughout, but I felt the plot itself was lacking so I’m not entirely sure whether I genuinely loved it or loved it just because of the beautiful writing.
I didn’t care much for any of the characters (definitely not a pure hatred, though, like for the characters in “Freedom), so that has a lot to do with my not loving the plot. However, I was engrossed in the novel the entire time so I finished it in a mere two sittings. It was extremely readable despite the heavy subject matter. The storytelling aspect was done wonderfully and keeps the reader in suspense throughout wondering what will happen next. But I was disappointed with the ending. I would recommend it and give it a three out of four stars if I had to offer a rating.
Book No. 9 of 50 in 2011.
-
“Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her”
It’s no secret that I’m a big Nancy Drew fan. I was obsessed with the books when I was younger and still own the entire set of yellow hardcovers (honestly, I prefer Nancy to the Sweet Valley High twins). So, when I saw this book at my library, I was way more excited to read it than I care to admit. It ended up being a lot more history/biography than secrets behind the best tween girl series of all time (subjective), which disappointed me a bit. But I like history. It delved into the details behind the man who founded the publishing company where Nancy Drew was created and serves as a complete biography of the two women, one in the early years and one later, who actually wrote the mysteries. Both considered to be “Carolyn Keene.” There was no Carolyn Keene, of course: All Nancy fans should already know that. It was a bit dry so I found myself skipping ahead to the stuff about how/why certain things were written or left out of the books and the actual creation of Nancy, which were my favorite sections. I found the author also jumped around a lot and went off on tangents so it was a little difficult to stay interested. It’s worth mentioning that this book is definitely not for the casual fan.
No. 10 of 50 books in 2011.
-
“Stieg Larsson: Our Days in Stockholm”
By Kurdo Baksi.
Apparently this book was renamed “The Man Behind the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” for the U.S. paperback edition, but I got the hardcover original from my library.
I guess I was expecting more of a biography, but I should have known better considering it was only 142 pages long and called a memoir on the front not a biography. I’m a big fan of the Millenium trilogy so I was looking forward to reading more about the author, who died before enjoying any of the series’ great success. I did like reading about his journalism career and his strong anti-racism, anti-Nazi activism and all the details about his time running a magazine. Baksi definitely writes like a journalist. He presents the facts and tells a story without any exaggeration or flowery language (this could also be lost in translation, though), but this also results in dry material. I got bored with it about halfway through but soldiered on and the end was worth it. I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re really struggling for things to read.
No. 11 of 50 books in 2011
Stieg Larsson’s longtime partner Eva Gabrielsson’s upcoming memoir is being released in a couple weeks: “There Are Things I Want You to Know about Stieg Larsson and Me”. I think I’ll like that one better. There was a great NYT story a while ago about the fight over Larsson’s royalties and an alleged partially written fourth book between his family (father/brother) and Gabrielsson, who he had been with since he was 18 years old until his death at age 50.
-
“Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture”
I had read a few of Peggy Orenstein’s pieces in the New York Times Magazine and really liked them so although I’m not the target demographic for this book (moms of young girls, obviously), I picked it up at my library because I recognized the author and the topic seemed interesting. I was pleasantly surprised. I liked this one with a few caveats. First the good: Orenstein’s writing is contemplative yet straight-forward. She tends to go off on tangents but they don’t confuse the reader, and it’s fun to read her train of thought. I liked her insights on when it is that girls gravitate toward pink and princesses despite being raised as equals to boys and her observations that the modern world is even more fixated on girlie-girl mentality post-feminism than decades earlier when all toys made for girls were not pink and purple. A few chapters have Orenstein visiting different “girl cultures”: the American Girl store; toddler beauty pageants (overdone commentary definitely, but she acknowledges that it’s a tired topic); the Disney Princesses brand. Now the bad: While certain areas were definitely interesting, the less-than-200-page book fell flat at times and it seemed like Orenstein was stretching to fill the pages. It was uneven at moments, and there were times you could tell the author herself wasn’t sure about the point she was trying to make. I think this would have fared better as a long NYT Magazine piece with some heavy editing rather than a book.
No. 12 of 50 books in 2011
-
READ THIS: A Visit From the Goon Squad
I really, really loved this book. I loved it so much I read it in one day (except for the first chapter, which I started months ago). I was about halfway through when it was time for the book club meeting to discuss this book and I didn’t even want to stop reading, and then immediately after getting home that evening, I started reading again and didn’t stop until I was done. I almost want to read it again, it was that good.
Each well-written chapter is told from a different character’s perspective, and told well. I’ve read books that have done this before, but the author often has a hard time finding each character’s voice or accurately going from a teenage girl to a middle-aged man. Jennifer Egan nails it. It’s essentially about a music producer, his assistant, his friends as a teenager, his wife, and everyone connected to him via various times in his life. But, it’s not really about him. It’s not about any sole character. Each chapter could stand alone as a short story. In each story, you find hints and mentions of other characters who often get their own chapters as well, but each chapter is not in chronological order and they’re often decades apart so it’s fun to figure out what year they’re in and how old the various characters are at that time. Another big central binder is music, which I loved. It plays an integral part in the plot and stories of each character.
If you love fiction, well-developed characters and music like I do, you will not be disappointed. Read this book!
Fun fact: This book is being turned into an HBO series in the near future.
No. 13 of 50 books in 2011. (I don’t think I’ll make my halfway point goal of 25 books by July 1, but I’m getting there, sort of…)
-
“Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang”
I didn’t like this book. It wasn’t even unevenly funny like “Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea,” which at least had some really funny stories mixed in with the not-so-funny ones. Every single story in this one was so-so. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it and I wouldn’t recommend it. If I hadn’t breezed through it in less than two hours, I never would have picked it up again due to lack of interest.
No. 14 of 50 books in 2011.
-
Sweet Valley Confidential: Piece of shit
I had planned this lengthy review detailing how much I hated this book and all the things wrong with it, which is why I had been putting off writing this for more than a week. But now it doesn’t even seem worth it so I’ll just give you five reasons why you shouldn’t read this book, if you’re considering it, and instead return to the classic SVH series. I am so glad I didn’t pay for this book because I would have been pissed.
1. Elizabeth spends 90% of the book moping about how depressed she is/was and how much she is pissed at Todd/Jessica.
2. Todd is a pathetic pushover who doesn’t call for anyone fighting over him. I repeat, NO ONE, should be that upset over losing that wet dishrag.
3. In Francine Pascal’s sad, sad attempt at being “modern,” she references things like Uggs and infuses Jessica’s speech with dozens of likes inserted at odd moments, which leave many of her sentences nonsensical.
4. Very little mention of some of my favorite SVH people like Lila. Sure, she gets some updates but it would have been nice to devote entire chapters to other characters. I’m sure taking away 20 pages or so from Elizabeth’s sad sack life in NYC wouldn’t have changed the book too much.
5. The “holy shit” moments were weak. Steven’s outing was the worst coming out in cheesy book history, and Bruce Patman’s “surprising” declaration of love for Elizabeth had been foreshadowed the entire book with all the BFF talk and jealousy toward her male friend.
In conclusion, I can almost guarantee dear, old Francine wanted to make some quick cash with this one, and it’s in response to the numerous blogs and websites that have cropped up in the past few years written by 20- and 30-somethings devoted to reviewing old SVH books and discussing how awesome/guilty pleasure-worthy they were. She knew women everywhere would buy the book as long as she promised to reveal SECRETS, which turned out to be really dumb.
No. 15 of 50 books in 2011.
-
Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin
“The horrible thing about being young and stupid (among others) is that you can’t know what you dont know. But you can have a sense that you don’t know shit. This is a curse I notice most of my classmates don’t have. They seem to think they know a lot about a lot of things. I don’t know why I have to be the magical elf of a teenager, but I somehow know it’s impossible to know much until you’re way older than we all are. I hate that. Both the fact of it and the loneliness of being the only one who seems to know it.”
I picked this up because I liked the cover (I know). But it turned out to be pretty good. It reads a bit like a young adult novel, and I think it could be both for teens and adults, but adults would understand it a whole lot better because they’ve been through it or at least know enough to know that it’s not the end of the world. The main character is a little person (this aspect is done very well) high-schooler who is desperate to fit in and be liked at a liberal arts school in Ann Arbor (there are LOTS of AA specific references here that are kind of fun, I haven’t checked but I can guarantee the author either went to U-M or also went to high school in AA). She has something really awful happen to her by some other students there due her obsessive need to fit in and as a result she’s run away, which is where the story begins. It’s told in flashback form with the final chapter back to the present day.
DeWoskin was able to capture high-schoolers’ thoughts and feelings perfectly, including the frustrations and naive stupidity. Some parts were difficult to read, especially when the main character makes horrible decisions. It wasn’t a fantastic book, but I’d recommend it as a good vacation read.
No. 16 of 50 books in 2011.
-
Just Kids by Patti Smith
I loved this book. I don’t have much to say about it except that I enjoyed reading about that era of so much creativity (and chaos) in NYC. It’s clear that Patti Smith is a poet and songwriter. She tends to dramatize events and is good at making everything seem sentimental and pretty among the grit. I felt a lot of it was a bit too much for me, though, slightly exaggerated and full of “deep” analogies, which aren’t really my thing. But the story and the people were great. Smith downplayed her famous-ness, which was nice but also a little frustrating. But Patti and Robert’s relationship is fascinating and this was a heartfelt tribute worth checking out if you’re into music and arts culture. Bonus: Patti lived in Detroit in the 1980s and her kids were born here. Triple bonus: Patti’s husband was in Detroit band MC5 and their son is married to Meg White.
No. 17 of 50 books in 2011.
Newspaper copy editor, semi-new homeowner, amateur baker who is in love with words, sarcasm, news, pop culture, bright colors, music, design, books, Detroit, DIY.
